Another year is about to begin and it will be a significant one for me: the year I will turn forty.

Aside from me getting on in years, what will it bring in terms of the blog?

I am not entirely sure, to be honest.
Perfume is covered expertly by my lovely contributors Tara, Sandra, Michael and the inimitable (and unstoppably energetic) Portia, so that topic is in good hands.

How can I keep on writing a blog dedicated to perfume though, when I don’t explore the fragrant world any longer? (At least for now and the forseeable future).

Well, nobody says this blog has to be dedicated to perfume alone. I made OT, I can decide to widen its scope.
The inspirational Lila Das Gupta (of Perfume Lovers London) told me to write about whatever interests me, whatever captures my passion at the moment and some people will follow, some won’t.

As I have let the blog take a pause this past week, I have received several not very friendly comments as to my lack of commitment and while it astonishes me that a pause of a few days would cause such venom in some, it also tells me that it would be missed, if I decided to let it go completely.

WordPress does an end of year report and the statistics in there told me that almost half a million people visited OT in 2014 and I am humbled by this number.
In my mind OT still feels like a chat with friends. A place where I can share my thoughts, also private ones and feel safe and among people who understand and respect each other.
Those comments had a very different feel, but still, they galvanized me into action.

2015 will see a broadening of themes here, I will write about beautiful things, about art, about frivolous luxuries, about books, about lifestyle, about things I love and the occasional snippy bit about things I hate.

And, thinking of the ever wise Undina’s advice here, I will do so when I feel like it, because blogging, writing, sharing thoughts should be a joy not a chore.

OT has brought me many joys, good friends, lovely acquaintances and – not to forget – more samples than I can count. 😉

Thank you for reading, commenting (even for the snippy comments!) and for coming back time and again.

All the best to you for this shiny new year.
May it bring you what you want and need in your life!

Dear Birgit, your blog was one of the first fragrance blogs I read and commented on, and remains my favourite. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you as you’ve written about fragrances. And I look forward to the new directions your “travels” will take you and all of us, your readers and friends. Love and all the best for you and your family in the coming year.

A very Happy New Year Birgit. Looking forward to reading about all the new things you will be introducing us to in 2015 – you are a true style guru. Bring on the art and bring on the fashion, we are ready!
Hope your family and little boy all well now and don’t forget to unleash the husband on the blog a little more in 2015. The Hermes diagram still making me smile.
x

I love Olfactoria’s travels!
Through fragrance you have touched on so many other things
Like …
style, emotions, raIsing your children, places you have visited, on & on …
And HERMES!
Happy, healthy New Year to you and your family
Please keep writing

Happy New Year Birgit!You will never loose my longdistance friendship,no matter what happens to OT.And I will still read AND enjoy your excellent essays,no matter what the topic!(Nod to Victoria at Bois de Jasmin,who does that extremely well already too!)
Big Hugs from SA!Come visit soon!xo

Happy New Year, Birgit! Your blog, your rules…and in your own time. I am very much of the view that you should follow the muse wherever it leads you, and you are the perfect person to branch out into writing on luxury goods and cultural topics of all kinds. Sounds like 2015 is going to see OT ‘change it up’ in radical and exciting ways. Good on you!

Thanks, Vanessa, I feel so much more free now, I have given myself permission to let the perfume go (for now at least) and post what I want. I have lots of ideas… now I only need school to start again so I have the time! 🙂

Appalled to hear about the snarky comments; it`s not as if we readers are paying for a subscription!! I`m delighted to hear you will continue blogging no matter the subject as I have always enjoyed your non-perfume posts. Wishing you and your family all the best in the new year.

Some people seem to think they have a right to regular posts… 🙂
As I am the kind of person who would really like to provide them, it has pained me to feel so uninspired and laden down with obligations I felt I couldn’t fulfill. Now I feel the excitement again, yay! 🙂

Happy New Year! I can’t believe that people write negative things when you don’t post for a few days, instead of trying to understand. Blogging isn’t our full time job, and we blog because we want to, so don’t let anyone ever dictate when or what you should write. Lack of commitment? I’ve gone for more than a month without writing, and that’s nobody’s problem by mine and mine alone. I love your writing, and will continue to support you even if you’re not writing about perfume. Hugs!

Best wishes for the New Year, and the new ideas. I’m sure that you will be writing lovely stuff, whether or not it’s about fragrance. Your blog is my favorite too, just like many others who follow it. You have given me so many new ideas and they are deeply appreciated. Thanks to your other writers too and the many people who make such interesting comments.. My hope is that your asthma will subside and that you will be well and happy.. Your friend, anitathepianist

Happy New Year! I am among those who would be perfectly happy to read more about Vienna and Austria (also about good shopping and art events). Never feel an obligation to publish a given number of times per week on your blog, after all it is not a job. I wish you and your family all the best for 2015.

I’m sure I’ve told you this before, and I sincerely mean it: I love your “off topic” posts, where you write about the beautiful places, people and things in your life. More scarves, more Vienna, more cute boys and charming husband. More of anything you want to share with us, in other words.

And the perfume angle you have covered nicely (more than nicely – fabulously) with your contributors. So don’t feel guilty about a thing, and Happy New Year to you and your crew, Birgit!

Write what you want and when you want to. I think it’s awful that people would be nasty because you hadn’t posted. You do have a life beyond the blog. I’ll read whatever you want to write about.
Have yourself a very Happy New Year my dear!

Wow! I’m shocked to hear that people would leave unfriendly comments as to your dedication to the blog. While its great that your audience enjoys the blog – blogs really exist to serve the author! And while we miss you when you’re away, that’s no reason to pull out the fangs – if anything the comments should be friendly to say the commenters miss you! I’m excited for you to branch out and blog about anything you’re passionate about, and always on your own timeline. 🙂 Wishing everyone the best in 2015!

First of all, a very happy and healthy 2015 for you and the people you love! And secondly, I would like to thank you for your blog. It’s one of the very few blogs I read and enjoy, because it is intelligent and interesting (and I learn something new every week😊). I am looking forward to your essays, no matter what the topic. Have a nice New Years Day🎉.

Hello Birgit, I’m reading your blogs for some years now. Although I have never replied I enjoy reading your blogs even when they are not about new discoveries in the perfume world. You have such na nice way of writing, I hope to hear again from you this year and to be able to see the nice pictures you post when I check your blog with a cup of tea. I whish you and your family a happy and healty new year!!

Happy New Year Birgit! May it bring you happiness!
I look forward to broadening of subjects. 🙂
It’s your blog, you can do whatever you want with it and it really is all about having fun while doing it.

P.S. And why in the world would people get snippy if you decide to take a (deserved) break?! Honestly, the presumption of some people astounds me.

Your plans for the blog sound definitely good. to me ! (and I wonder about some people out there who feel the right to demand a blog from you as they want to have it …)
Have a very good time in 2015, my dear B. !

I am appalled that anyone would write anything negative or demanding regarding your blog, especially given the difficult times you’ve shared with us. Your blog is filled with beauty and grace no matter what the topic. It is one of my favorites, and I look forward to the new direction it will take in 2015. Here’s hoping the new year brings your whole family better health, much joy, and many blessings!

I am late to the party, and you have such intelligent and eloquent readers that it has all been said – but here goes: I love the blog, not just for the fragrance, which is still wonderfully covered with your guest/alt/co-bloggers, but for your writing and point of view. Change is a law of life, and life has changed your focus on this blog. I am very glad you have found a new way of approaching writing for OT. It needs to bring pleasure to you or it is not worth it. Hermès, beauty, life, – bring it on! And Happy New Year!

I’m glad you’re continuing OT, I still read all the post even though I’ve commented a bit more seldom lately. And the non-perfume posts inspire me as well, as my now sizable collection of Hermes scarfs can testify 🙂
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Birgit! ”
Lack of commitment”? That surprised me. I always enjoy your blog and it seems so much love and energy go into yours. It’s your blog, do and write whatever you like! 🙂 Enjoy your life and enjoy blogging.

Happy New Year! I would never criticize you for cutting back on writing for your blog, as I have had to cut back on my blog reading, so it’s perfect timing. I’ll note that you were prescient in naming your blog–it perfectly suits any change in emphasis. (Looking forward to the broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic tonight, too, although I always find myself counting the number of women playing.)

From reading your blog for some time now I can write wholeheartedly that you have a nose for beauty, and if that can’t include scent and perfume for now I am sure it will lead you somewhere else that is worthwhile.
Inspired by OT I visited a Hermes shop in shop yesterday my husband treated me big big time to a travel set of 4 Hermessences and….a scarf!!! Blue d’Afrique, very beautiful, silk jewellery.

Excellent! What a lovely husband! Ors Beus d’Afrique is a great scarf by Zoe Pauwels, I have one of that design in red silk mousseline. What colourway is your scarf?
And which Hermessences did you choose?

Yes, he is absolutely fantastic! The colourway of my Ors Bleu D’Afrique is Terre Cuite/Bois de Rose/Bleu, really beautiful terra, rosewood and blue, I am a strawberry blonde/blondish redhead and my natural pale colour lightens up by it (I think, and ofcourse the SA confirmed many times, I wonder if she did a sales given course by a famous Austrian Orange Sales Mercure Consultant 😉 ). I chose Cuir d’Ange that on my skin, well moisturised, stayed for 5 hours, a lovely refined chic leather violet, Rose Ikebana, Osmanthus Yunnan and Epice Marine for my husband, who loves the sea.
I am considering buying a mai tai scarf ring, they seem very reasonably priced and I think it may help me wear the shawl more.

I am 43. When I turned 40, a slow change started in me. I started realizing that I’ve had a great life, but now was when I needed to start doing all the things I’ve always wanted to do. I stopped focusing on what others wanted from me, and in the process I found that I’ve always lived for others’ expectations rather than mine. And I realized what a waste of time that was. I love your blog……but there is absolutely nothing wrong with change or following your heart’s direction, wherever it leads you. I love that you see the beauty in so many things…..keep finding that beauty and share it with us when you feel like it, and embrace that you’ve lived long enough to know how to make a difference. What a gift to be old enough to have the wisdom from past experiences! Now you can move forward in your life with fewer mistakes and regrets. Embrace it! I hope this doesn’t come across preachy, but what you wrote resonated with me on some deep level. Happy New Year!

Dear Birgit,
Just writing to echo what so many others have said – please ignore the bad manners of the few (the internet is an open field for them) and just write what you want. You have no obligation to anyone but yourself. Women are so bad at realizing that, aren’t they?
I would love to read about jewelry (one of my favorite things) or Hermès scarves. I only have one of those scarves (and I never wear it, so I refuse to get more) but I love the art of them. And I love reading/seeing about Vienna.
One of the beauty vloggers I sometimes follow recently broke her back. Actually broke a vertebra. And couldn’t post every day, because of the pain and the drugs, even though she also couldn’t go out. And commenters on her YouTube channel were very cruel about “Why doesn’t she post, if she really broke her back it’s not like she’s going anywhere.” !!! There are too many horrible people in the world. My grandmother always said the correct response to a rude comment is to fail to hear it. I suggest you take up this approach. I’ll keep reading.
Hugs
Judith

Dear Judith,
yes, women and obligations are inseparable. 😉
Awful story about the vlogger, I hope she is better and didn’t take those comments to heart. I am with your granny here, ignoring such things is surely best (albeit not easy to do).
Hugs and happy new year!

WOW!! Great numbers Birgit!
You were one of my first blog finds, certainly the first one I commented on. I am proud we are now working together on this amazing home for frag heads the world over that you have created and curated.
Can I please put my hand up that I would like to see more of your photography. I love your Beauty Photo Essays of things around you. Maybe you could invite specific people to send in a set of 10 beauty photos through their eyes, as you used to do your interviews? I love seeing what other people think is beautiful in their lives.
More than anything, Happy New Year. No matter what happens you have a friend Down Under,
Portia xx

Well said, I am sure that your witty, funny and expert point of view works on many topics, not “only” on perfume, I would love to read about eg your detailed knowledge of Hermes careees the history and the artists behind them, on food and travel………
And maybe one time I could contribute my very humble knowledge on jewellery, keep on, your blog is not limited by perfume, your personality and passion is the reason I read it…..

Of course you can do what you like with your own blog! There are many excellent perfume blogs: bois de Jasmin is fabulous with a friendly, good natured community. I wish the best of luck with your new endeavor!

Congrats on your numbers for last year. With the new direction you are going to take, I can only see that increasing. This is *your* “baby” therefore your choice to do whatever, whenever. Scarf rings! I eagerly look forward to that post and to be educated on Hermes scarfs, of which I know nothing. A very happy new year to you, your boys and The Husband – may it bring you all good health and new adventures together.
And as far as the naysayers are concerned – “off with their heads” … 😉

Hi, I’m so glad you will continue the blog. I rarely comment but I read all your columns and very much enjoy them. I cannot believe people would write snarky comments about your “commitment” to blogging? It’s your life and your time and you can do whatever you like! I look forward to whatever you choose to blog about.

(I’m traveling so commenting with a delay – Happy New Year, dear Birgit!)

Now, to the point. What do you mean you took a break? What were you thinking about?!! We pay high dollars for access to your publication… wait… we do not pay anything but how dare you not to provide the expected entertainment?! 😉

Most of the perfume blogs I follow I read, mostly, because of people who write them, not because of the topic. For information I read press-releases and sites that make announcements, without much communications or discussions. Your blog is great because it reflects your personality. And it won’t change much for me no matter what topic you choose – as long as it’s your blog.